Spectral
by 000Marie198
Summary: His spiritual skills advancing far beyond the rest of his family's and further improving, Leonardo unknowingly performs a technique even he didn't believe he was capable of doing. His unintentional carelessness regarding the matter, however, could cost him dearly.
1. Prologue

**A/n: My first attempt at writing a multichapter fic. I hope you guys enjoy it. This story takes place in the third season, post episode, "The Deadly Venom".**

**Disclaimer: I do not ow****n the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or any of the canon characters that will be used in the story. They all belong to their respective owners.**

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**Prologue**

He blinked in confusion, looking around to see if his mind was playing tricks on him and saw that the dojo was in the same condition it had been before he had closed his eyes to start meditating. From the shadows and position of the sunrays coming through the grate above, it was clear that not much time had passed either.

_But..._

Leo bit his lip and reached forward to touch the green shoulder of a turtle kneeling in front of him. It could be just a dream but he never had dreams like these. His brothers' voices coming from the pit, discussing the same topics they were discussing before, further proving that this was no dream. It was all too real.

He lowered his hand to fall on the shoulder of the turtle in front of him; A blue-masked, katana wielding, meditating turtle.

It passed right through and Leonardo pulled away from his physical form with a gasp, cobalt eyes widening in astonishment. If he remembered correctly from what his father had told him when he was very young, then he was performing something only a very few martial artists could do and even Master Splinter hadn't mastered yet; Astral projection.

"Wow..."

Leo whispered in awe and stared down at his ghostly fingers, wiggling them for no other reason than shear curiosity at their transparent look. He checked his arms, legs, shell and the rest of his body, which also looked faded and almost transparent.

An image of Mikey's reaction if the youngest had been in his place flashed through his imagination and he chuckled. His baby brother would freak out and have a geek explosion simultaneously, thinking he was dead and had become a ghost. But Leo knew better, not that he wasn't allowed to geek out too.

This was just too awesome!

He looked to the right, at his rat sensei kneeling beside his meditating form, oblivious of what his eldest son was currently doing. The ninja master would be in for a big surprise when Leo told him what he is able to do. No need to disturb him for now, though.

He still had an hour before the meditation session with Splinter ended so Leo decided that he would explore around a bit in this new form, see just _what_ unique abilities one had while performing astral projection. Maybe he could test how far he could wander from his body or even check on his brothers without them knowing.

With those thoughts in mind, he started to walk towards the dojo doors before pausing midstep and gazing at the blinders which had been placed at the open, domed spaces over the pool next to the pit. Well... he _was_ a spirit so maybe he could just... Leo closed his eyes to concentrate and was suddenly launched high up in the air.

"Woah!"

He clenched his eyes shut and when he felt nothing more, slowly opened them to see the dojo mats a few feet below him.

"Phew." He sighed out in relief at seeing that he was just floating, not beamed upwards like a rocket or tossed around senselessly like shopping bag in a hurricane. Just Floating.

The thought repeated itself in his head and Leo straightened himself with a wide grin, staring down at himself.

He was floating! Like a super hero!

Laughing in excitement, he moved to the right instead and flew straight through the blinders and into the pit.

"This. is. Awesome!"

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_First stop: Check on Donnie._

Leo was finally finished with his numerous test flights through the lair which he was doing just for fun and had decided to use this form to check up on his younger brothers without them teasing him about being a motherhen.The impossibly wide, excited smile never leaving his features.

He poked his head into the lab through the closed doors and looked around, catching sight of his genius brother working with some of the chemicals and mumbling to himself. Pulling inside the rest of the way, Leo moved right infront of the purple-masked ninja who didn't react in the slightest, completely unable to see him.

"Hey, Donnie. What you up to?"

Obviously the other turtle did not hear him and kept mumbling to himself about 'which analytical process would work the best to recognize the main working agent of the serum and the silica gel seamed appropriate for the process of chromato-' Leo shook his head to stop himself from trying to translate his brother, not understanding most of the words Donnie was saying. He instead focused on the slower than usual movements his brother currently possesed and not on the words he was speaking.

Well, the genius seemed to be fine. Looking tired and overworked but otherwise fine. Leo made a mental note to get Donatello to take a break and rest for a while once he was done with his own meditation.

Finished with the first task, he felt his curiousity taking over once again. What if he touched someone who was conscious? Would they sense him?

Leo stared down at his ghostly hand before looking at his brother. Would Donnie sense him?

_Welp,_ he shrugged, _only one way to find out._

He reached forward to grab his younger brother's arm after the turtle had put down the test tube and, predictably, his hand passed right through. He watched carefully for Donatello's reaction and noticed how the younger had shivered at his touch.

"Who lowered the temperature on thermostat?" Donnie mumbled while rubbing a spot on his arm, still feeling the chills; like something cold had touched him.

Leonardo stared on with wide eyes as the purple-masked turtle trudged away to check the thermostat.

_Donnie had sensed him. His brother had sensed him._

He gazed down at his ghostly hand once again in fascination. "Cool."

After a whole minute, Donnie walked back to his desk with a confused look on his face which snapped Leo out of his stupor and the invisible turtle decided to go see the other two turtles.

Next stop: Check on the mischievious Mikey.

Speaking of mischievious, the blue-masked spirit noticed that Mikey and Raph's voices had quitened a while ago and they were nowhere to be seen.

_Hmmm. Just what were those two up to?_

Suspicion filling him, Leo floated right through the lab doors and set out in search of his mischievous brothers.

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**A/n: There you go! The first chapter. Let me know what you guys think.**

**I decided to test the waters with this one before starting the Au fanfic stories with much more interesting plots. I hope you all enjoy it.**

**And stay tuned for more! Leo is in for some deep, deep trouble.**


	2. Brewing Trouble

**A/n: I know, I know. I took too long when I usually update my books more quickly. The one author whom you would expect to give quicker updates and she disappears for nearly a month on her first multichapter fic. I have no excuse besides a writer's block.**

**And since I was completely bored out of my mind these past few days, I decided to give it a shot on watching the Rise series. I don't like it much (for the same reason most tmnt fans didn't like it in the beginning). Why Leo not leading and so clumsy? And why is Splinter like that? D: But it honestly wasn't as bad as I expected and was actually fun. 2018Leo led them in a couple of episodes too. And I loved the easter eggs in it. There are mostly 2012 series' easter eggs in it and 2012 is my all time favourite. They changed everyone's typical role and nature but not entirely. Leo still self-sacrifices, Raph still gets mad, Donnie didn't really change much and Mikey still loves cute stuff. But I still don't like it too much.**

**Anyway, now that I'm done rambling about it, here's the next chappie. Enjoy!**

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**Brewing Trouble**

The orange-clad turtle slowly and silently slid open the dojo door just a crack, enough to peek in without revealing himself. He looked inside and sure enough, his leader and his sensei were meditating, both in a deep trance. Smiling that they wouldn't suspect a thing and would remain oblivious to what was happening, he slid the door shut and tiptoed away to the hallway leading to their bedrooms.

He reached the door having a stop sign on it and looked around with narrowed eyes before lightly knocking on the door in a rhythmic tone. A grunt sounded from inside and Michelangelo stealthily slid in and quickly shut the door, unaware of a blue-masked spirit following him into Raphael's room.

Once inside, Mikey turned to face his elder brother with a grin. "Leo's still meditating." He reported excitedly, "Both him and Sensei are in a deep trance. He wouldn't know a thing."

"Good. I prepared the bucket." Raph set aside a can of dark grey spray paint he'd just used on the now dull coloured pale, letting it dry over the sheets of an old newspaper. "Fearless won't be able to see it when it's gonna be perfectly camouflaged above his door. You got those balloons ready?"

Mikey nodded once with a mock serious expression, "Locked and loaded. They're in my room." Then he switched to his usual beaming self and plopped down beside Raph. "This prank is gonna be so cool! You can be an awesome prank buddy, Raph, even if you only team up with me when the target is Leo. You guys sure love to annoy each other."

"Like you don't love annoying the hell out of us 24/7."

"I'm just saying. You would have been like, 'No way. Leave me alone.' if it was someone else I decided to prank but you agreed right away when I said that we should prank Leo."

"He's been too stressed and uptight lately." Raph voice softened and his elder brother caught the hidden concern in his statement, his own features softening from exasperated annoyance at their little conspiracy, to fondness at his immediately younger brother's concern.

"He needs some distraction." Raphael continued, unable to see Leo and unaware of the fact that he was in the room too. "A little bit of cooling off, y'know."

"Aww..." Mikey whispred in awe, "That's so sweet."

Raph snorted, composing himself and acting like his usual grumpy self again, "Did you get the glue?"

"What glu- OH SHIT, I FORGOT TO GRAB THE GLUE!" The orange-clad turtle yelled so loud that his two brothers winced and Raphael immediately scrambled up to cover his mouth and glare at him.

Leo made a mental note to teach Mikey more about the importance of silence in stealth, as well as a few well thought lessons about the concept of not using foul language.

"Keep your voice down." Raphael whispered harshly, his hand still covering the freckled turtle's mouth. "Do you _want_ us to get caught?"

Mikey chuckled sheepishly with guilty eyes and shook his head and Raph released him, still wary. Both brothers remained quite and listened on for a moment to check if Mikey's yell had attracted any unwanted attention.

Meanwhile, the one brother whom they didn't want to find out was floating right next to them and he snickered at their silliness and the irony of the situation. His mischievous, conspiring and _oblivious_ little brothers had no idea what was going on.

After hearing no sound from the outside for a minute, the hotheaded ninja turned to Mikey, "Go check if Sensei and Leo are still meditating. We can't afford that they find out about this."

Mikey nodded and quietly left the room. He creeped forward and tiptoed towards the pit, looking around and pressing his back against a wall at random points before crawling forward and rolling to crouch behind a piece of furniture as he pretended to be a spy in the clearly empty living area.

Leo followed him and watched from the sidelines, chuckling at his baby brother's antics before a sudden thought occured to him and he gazed towards the turnstiles, biting his lip in hesitation.

Unsure whether this was a good idea or not, Leonardo turned his gaze towards the dojo before looking back at the entrance.

He supposed he could just try this out, right? Sure, it was daytime and they rarely went to the surface during daytime but he was invisible anyway. What's the worst that could happen?

_You could lose the connection with your body and not be able to return back._ A voice inside him reasoned.

_Then I'll keep my focus on the connection and stay within range._ He countered the voice, itching to just fly out and further try out these unique abilities but it was resilient.

_Bad idea, Leo. Stay at home._

_No, it's not a bad idea._

His rising curiosity and urge battled back and forth with logic and reasoning and, in the end, won.

_I can do this._

Making up his mind, he checked the time from the nearest source and seeing that he still had more than enough free time before the meditation session ended, he flew towards the entrance and out of the lair, his entire family oblivious of his actions, and more importantly, his whereabouts.

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The evening rays of golden hour shone upon the rooftops of New York city as small gusts of cool wind blew through the occasional trees seen on the sidewalk, some of the sun's amber beams reflecting off the skyscrapers of Manhattan from the far distance, creating a shimmering bokeh if seen from the right angle.

A scrape of wheels on the pavement was heard as a high school kid made his way to the skate-park while a cab drove by another street, the rock dove pigeons in its path flying away to sit on a grill of a balcony, cooing as the light made the feathers around their necks shine with a magentic tint.

There was a sudden swoosh of displaced air which no one else could hear besides the invisible ninja darting through the cityscape. As Leonardo made his way across the rooftops, periodically moving aside to work on and try his spectral abilities, he contemplated that this time of the day was the most peaceful one he'd ever experienced, although the late hours of the night had their own special appeal to him. At this hour of the evening, there was no sound of the constant moving crowds or raging noise of traffic like there is on morning's rush hour. Right now, the city was the picture of peacefulness, a serenity which was rare in the city that never sleeps.

With a grin, Leo zoomed down into an alley, whooping as he passed right through the deadend wall on the opposite side before planting his feet on another wall and using the moment to launch himself upwards.

While he had been testing his abilities for the past few minutes, he had discovered that with enough concentration, he can give physical manifestation to this form for a small moment, which, unbeknownst to him, was an extremely rare and nearly impossible occurrence in the equally rare phenomena of Astral projection.

Now, due to this ability, the blue-clad leader was sensing stimuli from three different planes. One from his physical body which was currently in the dojo; He could feel the soft rug under his legs and feet, the suspicious silence which hinted of mischief, the comfortable warmth of the dojo and even the barely perceptible scent of sakura tree above him. He could feel the aura of Home.

On another hand, he could sense the peace and harmony of astral plane where he had stepped in just a while before he had suddenly found himself staring down incredulously at his own physical form.

Combined with that swirling mixture of sensations, Leo also felt a rush of wind on his face, fluttering his mask tales behind him as if he wasn't a spirit at all. He could feel the sunlight on his skin, the slight chill in the atmosphere, the gentle breeze, the rooftop concrete under his feet and the thrill of action.

How he could feel the physical sensations harboured by his ghostly form was beyond him, but he didn't complain. All those different sensations, the emotions they created... it felt amazing. Mesmerising even. They didn't seem to overwhelm the eldest turtle like they should have. Even on the astral plane, he had never experienced something like this before.

_'I__ feel like a Superhero!'_ The fanboy inside him, that little childish part, squealed once again at the random connection he had made, making him grin like a dork.

Brushing those thoughts aside as he reached the part of the town having taller apartment buildings, Leo jumped on the ledge of one of the higher rooftops and gazed down at his city... at his home, a small smile forming on his face as he took in the scenery before him.

The sun was slowly getting lower, its dispersed light turning the clouds pink and purple as seconds passed by.

Now _this_, was Amazing.

Taking a minute to take in and memorize every smallest detail of this special moment, he thought back to his brothers, imagining how much they are gonna love this, and decided then and there that this was something they had to see.

Watching the sun slowly going down, the shadows elongating, Leo realized with a start that he only had a few minutes left to go back home. Wanting to make the best of it before returning to his physical body, he floated upward and launched himself into the air, going higher then he had previously done and enjoying the moment to its fullest.

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Soaring through the golden dusky light and gentle breeze, Leonardo failed to sense the two dark forms hovering far above him and watching him move about the place, their energies forming an invisibility barrier between the turtle and them, creating the illusion of sun's dazzle in that direction.

"It appears that your ancient little trinket worked." One of the entities spoke, its voice but a hissed whisper, silvery-grey eyes glinting against the blackish swirls of energy which surrounded his form like loose snakes.

"I remember you forbade me to use it, Hebi." The other figure responded with a thick, gravely sound, "If I hadn't done so, we might have never found one."

"That orb was useless, Takeshi! We kept trying for a long time. This is the first time in years that it glowed."

They both turned to stare at the young turtle, his stance and movements matching that of a warrior, his confidence and skills to execute the unique abilities seeming to counter the fact that this was his first time doing this.

"He is the first one in decades to perform this technique."

The taller figure, who appeared to be armoured, closed his eyes and concentrated, a hand moving to touch the side of his temples, "The kappa is strong. I can sense his spiritual powers." He opened his eyes and removed his claw-like fingers away from his crimson eyes, pointing his palm towards the turtle in blue. "Astral projection isn't the only technique he is capable of doing."

"And yet he never considered what could happen if he came out in the open. He should have stayed at home." The serpent-like voice hissed in a mixture of glee and smugness.

The armoured entity beside him smirked at this, a dark cloud of energy gathering in his hand pointed towards Leo.

"Careless mortal."

The swirling, grey energy manifested itself into the shape of an orb which was shot out of the dark spirit's hand and straight at the unexpecting ninja.

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**A/n: Phew! So this chapter is done. I'll try to update the next one when I can because there's this story I have in my mind and I can't help but writing it down and publishing it as fast as possible. The inspiration is currently pointed that way so... *shrugs* I guess I'll start that first and put up the next chapter after publishing it's prologue.**


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